Daily Times

In this recessionary
environment, one industry that is flourishing is the private school industry. There is logic behind this boom: the terrible state of public school education in the country. With such a dearth of quality education it is but natural that market forces create opportunities for private entrepreneurs to fill this gap. However, this is not a Coke or Pepsi being sold that can advertise massively and keep on increasing its share in the market. It is education, and education is a subject of constitutional importance Thus, even for private education, government participation is not necessary but government regulation is mandatory. However, like most other areas of governance, the private school industry has also been left on its own with the result that today the industry, instead of being in a perfect competition, is almost like an oligopoly where the terms of education are almost entirely in the hands of the school owners.
Private schools in major metro cities house as much as 40 percent of total enrolled children. The abysmal public school system has made even the lower middle and middle-class parents look for better options for their children. Every parent feels education is an investment and thus is willing to spend beyond his/her budget for it. This need and gap is then exploited by the schools that keep on increasing fees without really explaining and justifying the fee to parents. The attitude of the school is that if you are not happy we are happy to let you go. For parents to find a cheaper and a better option by uprooting their children from one system to another becomes too difficult to opt for. Thus, what happens is that private schools randomly charge for every expense imaginable including advance tax, generator, library, sports and you name it, that also as three months advance. The fee for three months ranges between Rs 50,000 to 100,000 on the average per child for a good private school with a yearly increase at any rate possible. Recently, in Punjab, an order was passed to forbid the private schools from taking collective fees for summer vacations. According to sources, private schools would be allowed to receive a fee separately for each month. The official notification issued from the office of secretary education Punjab reads that the schools breaching the code would be dealt with the law. The schools found violating the orders would be sealed, said the officials of the education department. No school has bothered as they know how to grease the palms of those trying to do their duty.
Private schools may be better in quality than public schools but are they really up to the quality that they are charging for? Despite paying hefty fees for putting children into these schools, nearly 95 percent of children are taking tuitions additionally. The tuition fee per subject can run into five digits depending on the subject. Then there is a question of the facilities available. Most of the schools start in congested commercial buildings with no proper grounds and sports facilities. Even top of the line schools that have built bigger campuses struggle in providing multiple sports and lab facilities. O level and A level education has become simply a race of getting to the best tuition centre and then practicing the previous five years’ papers and ensuring A grades to get you admission into higher classes, very similar to the guess paper methodology of the public school system. Though there is a very welcome emphasis on debates and personality development, there is hardly any emphasis on discipline and character development. Thus, these schools do produce better grades and English speaking accents but do they produce enlightened and cultured intellect?
School business creates not only tuition fee as revenue but also accessory fee as additional margins. Books and uniforms for example can only be purchased from designated shops that are either commission partners or joint ventures etc. This anti-competitive behaviour should be looked into. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has initiated a probe into the possible anti-competitive behaviour behind the sharp increase in fees being charged by private schools in the country. However, this is not the only step and a basic audit of what sort of entry and mobility barriers they are creating to command terms should be part of the scrutiny.
Ultimately, it has to be a comprehensive and integrated effort on all levels to bring a change that is mutually beneficial. Firstly, the government has to improve its governance to ensure that laws are being reviewed and, more importantly, followed. The government has set up a Private Educational Institute Regulatory Authority (PIERA) to regulate the working and fee structure of private schools but it has done exactly what all government authorities do: nothing. The government needs to take a few lessons out of the Punjab Food Authority and use its ‘authority’ to bring a sense of normalcy to the industry. As the Higher Education Commission (HEC) does for universities, it should do quality accreditation and ranking of schools on teacher profiles, facilities and fee, and make it public. Parents need to be more aware and vigilant about laws and their rights, and use them to push for their demands. The fact that according to the law only five percent of the fee can be increased and the rest needs to be passed through a legal process is what should have been taken up long ago. Parents should also form PMAs, i.e. Parents Management Associations in every school having a board of parents and school administration that discuss and deal with issues arising out of fee and quality. Private school owners need to change their attitude of arrogance and go for a win-win approach. It is understandable that the fee of a private school will always be more but it has to be rational in this era of social media where awareness levels are much higher than before and chances of hiding behind fancy school walls are minimal.
The ultimate check to curb monopolies is to increase competition. The ultimate way to increase competition is to make more schools become quality providers. The ultimate solution to making more quality providers is to bring the public schools at par with private schools, which India and Sri Lanka have managed to do. That, of course, will take time but meantime the more aware the educated segments of society, be it parents, school owners and activists, the better the chance to ensure a fair balance on education investment and its ability to enable our children to excel academically, athletically and socially.

The writer is secretary information PTI Punjab, an analyst, a columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com